Device for husking grains

ABSTRACT

In a device for husking grains, its support mechanism for hulling rolls and its casing defining a husking chamber, said device being assembled in its entirety as a rectangular parallelepiped.

[ Sept. 17, 1974 United States Patent Satake 99/525X 99/618X 99/618 99/525X 99/475 fl n wwm r 1 Bfiw 09052 679 5 800899 HW4 W4 28 9 009 93 JJ 00572 32259 I2 n a P a ,J 0 v nn in 00 O 4mm 2 ai e i 0 mwn a a S m 0 m m "m 0 me m o m m 0.13 TNK DEVICE FOR HUSKING GRAINS [76] Inventor:

[221 Filed Ma"291972 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 21 App]. No: 229,437

86,3II 8/1957 Netherlands.........................,99/6I8 Foreign Application Priority Data Primary Examiner-Harvey C. Hornsby Nov. 23, I971 46-93973 Attorney, Agent, or FirmBrowdy and Neimark ABSTRACT [52] US. 99/618, 99/525 Int. A45e 41/02 [58] Field of Search 99/525, 529, 618, 475,

In a device for husking grains, its support mechanism for hulling rolls and its casing defining a husking chamber, said device being assembled in its entirety as a rectangular parallelepiped.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,193 7/1841 99/529 6 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR HUSKING GRAINS This invention relates to a device for husking grains, and more particularly to its support mechanism for hulling or husking rolls and its casing defining a husking chamber, which can be constructed in a simple way and at a lower cost.

The object of this invention is to provide an outer casing defining a grain hulling or husking chamber, which can be constructed at a lower cost.

Another object of this invention. is to provide a grain husking device which is assembled in its entirety as a rectangular parallelepiped.

Other objects of this invention will become more apparent from the following explanation of the important feature thereof.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show diagrammatically two kinds of conventional huskers of the type similar to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows similarly to FIGS. 1 and 2, diagrammatically the principle construction of the present invention device;

FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of part of a supply hopper of the present invention, basic principle thereof being illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a lateral view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows a cross sectional view of support mem bers;

FIG. 7 shows a sectional side view illustrating rolls mounted inside a slide member;

FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a back view of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 10 is a view showing parts of the device, section-.

ally.

FIGS. land 2 show diagrammatically some typical known devices for husking rice grains. Although there are a variety of similar devices, they fall under the two clases shown herein and described briefly below.

In FIG. 1. the part shown in thick lines is made from cast iron, while that shown with a chain-dotted line is made from iron sheet. As will become apparent from FIG. 1, a cover made from cast iron b, b is provided on top of hulling roll a, and a support bracket 0 is projectedly mounted to the lateral face of the cover b, b. The latter is provided for supporting a heavy hopper d and is used for supporting the hopper d and covering the rolls a at the same time. The support bracket c projected laterally from the cover a is designed for mounting bearings e, e thereon and supporting a rotary shaft f of the hulling rolls a. This known device has therefore a drawback that iron material must be used in abundance and that a support bracket 0 is projected laterally a considerable distance.

The known device shown in FIG. 2 is constructed in such a way that a chamber h for housing hulling rolls a and a chamber i for housing a drive unit for hulling rolls a are provided on the top of the flat support plate 3 made from cast iron material. Since these chambers are formed with cast iron material, the production cost will be considerable due to the expenses needed in raw material and labor.

The chamber i in the known device shown in FIG. 2 is constructed from cast iron material for supporting bearing units for speed reducing gear train, and the chamber h is constructed from cast iron material for supporting a supply hopper d.

From consideration of the above devices, it will be apparent that such devices have the defects of complex and less than satisfactorily rigid construction. An improved construction, based on a different concept, is provided in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows the principle of the present invention. In FIG. 3, numeral 1 denotes a part made from cast iron corresponding to the part b in FIG. 2, or a flat support plate of a considerable thickness. A passage 2 is formed in its center for mounting supply hopper 3 directly thereto. On the back side of the support plate 1, there is mounted a support member 5 for mounting the bearings 4, 4. Accordingly, the support bracket c for the support of roll bearings e, e as shown in FIG. 1 is omitted and the support member 5 is projected downwardly from the reverse or bottom side of the support plate 1. In this way, the roll bearings 4, 4 are no longer projected laterally, and the overall device is made compact. Moreover, a roll chamber made from cast iron material need no longer be provided on top of the support plate g as shown in FIG. 2.

An embodiment of the invention constructed in accordance with the basic principle thereof as conceived in FIG. 3 will now be explained in detail.

FIG. 4 shows part of the supply hopper. Numeral 1 denotes a base plate made from material of considerable thickness, such as cast iron or iron sheet. A passage -2 is bored at its center and a coupling cylinder 9 is secured above this passage 2, said cylinder 9 comprising a feed controller or pay-out roll 6, an articulated adjustment plate 7 (FIG. 5) and a valve 8. A supply hopper 3 is secured on top of the cylinder 9, and a pair of bearings 10, 11 for said pay-out rolls 6 are mounted on the top lateral face of the base plate 1.

FIG. 5 is a lateral view of FIG. 4 and shows the detail construction of the adjusting plate 7 and the valve 8, for the sake of illustration of the mechanism for adjusting the distance between the pay-out roll 6 and the ad justment plate 7. The base portion of the adjustment plate 7 is secured to a shaft 12 axially mounted parallel to said pay-out roll 6. One end of the shaft 12 is extended outwards from the cylinder 9 and an arm 13 is secured to the projected end of the shaft 12, the arm 13 being kept abutting with the foremost part of an adjustment screw 14. Numeral 15 in FIG. 5 denotes a spring, and numeral 16 in the same figure denotes a needle for the indication of the adjustment perforrnable in this way. Although the actual mechanism can not be observed from the outside, the distance between roll 6 and adjustment plate 7 can be ascertained through deflection of this needle 16 by adjustment of the screw 14.

A pair of support members 5, 5' for supporting of bearings for hulling rolls are suspendedly attached to the lower surface of the base plate 1. FIG. 6 shows the detailed construction of the support members 5, 5'. A bolt 18 is inserted into a bolt hole 17 bored on the base plate 1, and support members 5, 5 for hulling roll bearings 4 are secured to the lower surface of the base plate 1 by said bolts 18. One support member 5 designed for supporting a fixed roll 20 is secured immovably to the basic plate 1, and a threaded bracket 21 is fixed beneath the bearing 4 and through which an adjusting scrum 26 passes at right angles to the support member 5. The other 20 support member 5' designed for supporting the movable roll 22 is mounted rotatably so that it is secured to a stationary washer 23 through a shaft 24, said washer 23 being secured to the base plate 1. A slide member 25 is fitted rotatably to the foremost or bottom part of support member 5, the adjustment screw 26 having a handle 19 for adjusting distance between the rolls 20 and 22 The foremost part of this screw 26 is formed in a stepped part 27, the end part of which is machined to a smaller thickness and formed as a slide bar 28, which is inserted into said slide member 25. The construction is such that when the stepped part 27 is moved to and fro through abutment of the slide member on the stepped part 27, the support member 5' is revolved with the shaft 24 as center. The end part of the slide bar 28 is formed as a threaded part 29 to which is fitted an abutment washer 30 so that the latter is kept in abutting contact at its one end with said slide member. A spring 31 is inserted so that it abuts at one end on said washer 30 and at the other end on an opposing washer 30, the latter being secured by a double nut 32. It will be seen that the roll distance can be extended by compressing this spring 31.

FIG.7 shows the rolls mounted inside a slide chamber 33. In FIG. 7, numeral 34 denotes a casing in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped, the four sides of which are made from thin iron sheets. A base plate of considerable thickness 1 is placed on the top of this casing 34.

As shown, the casing 34 is made from iron sheet and only the open top part thereof is covered by the base plate 1. As explained above, a pair of support members are suspendedly mounted to the lower surface of the base plate 1, and a pair of opposing rolls 20, 22, carried by said support members, are fixedly positioned inside a hulling chamber 33 defining an upper space of the casing 34. In this way, the roll chamber 33 (comparing the roll chamber h made from cast iron material as shown in FIG. 2 by way of explanation of the known system) is included in an upper part of the casing 34 which is made from thin iron sheet. A V-shaped funnel 35 is provided at the lower part of the roll chamber 33, the lower discharge opening 36 thereof being bent in the shape, as shown. An air traverse chamber 37 is defined directly beneath said discharge opening 36. Preferably, an iron gauze or similar means is provided in a position indicated by the letter A for the inflow of air. As the cereals with higher specific gravity will drop directly downwards through discharge opening 36, a duct 38 for hulled rice 38 is provided as shown. As unripe grains with lighter specific gravity will be carried a small distance by the air flow, a duct 39 for unripe grains 39 is provided next to the duct 38 as shown, said duct 39 being extended to the outside of the casing 34. Since chaffs are carried through the sorting chamber 37 by the horizontal air flow, the air duct 40 forming the sorting chamber is provided so that it ascends a short distance and then descends downwards and is connected to the suction opening of a blower 41. The rotary shaft 42 of the blower 41 is projected laterally so that the latter is made to rotate in synchronism with a further blower 43 (see FIG. 8) designed to perform a further function, as will become more apparent hereinafter.

The lower space of the duct 40 is formed as a rice pearling chamber 44. A rice pearling machine 45 is provided in this chamber 44. The lower opened part of the duct 38 is connected to a supply opening 46 of the rice pearling machine 45. Pipe 47 is connected to the rice pearling machine 45, so that the air from said blower 43 will be admitted into the pearling chamber of the rice pearling machine. A changeover valve 48 and a changeover discharge opening 49 are provided to the duct 38 for hulled rice so that the hulled rice in transit through said duct 38 is not supplied to the rice cleaning machine 45 but delivered from the machine without cleaning.

FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7. The hulling chamber 33 is defined beneath the base plate 1, and the pair of hulling rolls 20, 22 are axially mounted about centrally of the hulling chamber 33. Said rolls are axially mounted on rotary shafts 50, which are axially mounted to the pair of support members 5, 5 which in turn are suspendedly attached to the lower surface of the base plate 1. A pair of pulleys 51 are mounted to the ends of the shafts 50 projected outwards from the casing 34. As shown, there are no partition plates or similar partitioning means to the left and right of the hulling chamber 33, and a wide space is left adjacent to said chamber 33. The rotary shaft 52 (see FIG. 9) of the rice pearling machine 45 provided in the lower portion is extended outwards from the casing in the same direction as said shafts 50, and a pair of pulleys 53 are mounted to the end parts of the shaft 52. Although shown in the overlapped position in FIG. 8, the rotary shaft 42 shown in FIG. 7 is extended in the same direction, and a pulley, not shown, is mounted to the projected shaft end. The construction is such that the moving parts of the hulling device are set in rotation simultaneously through a single belt 54 mounted on said pulleys, as shown in FIG. 9.

In FIG. 9, numeral 55 denotes a pulley for movable roll, numeral 56 a pully for blower 41, and numeral 57 a tension pulley.

FIG. 10 shows a blower 43 for the rice pearling machine and a blower 41 for sorting of grains mounted on a single rotary shaft 42.

The operation of the device so far shown and described is as follows.

A motor is set into rotation for driving a drive shaft and rotating pulleys 56, 55, 50, 53 simultaneously through endless belt 54. Then, the adjustment screw 26 is turned manually for adjusting the member 5 and hence its movable roll 22 to a desired small distance from the fixed roll 20. This spacing is necessary to prevent the abrading of rolls 20 and 22, which would occur if the rolls were allowed to rotate while abutting one another. However, even when so separated, the frictional force between the rolls, during the hulling operation, required for sufficient hulling of the grains, causes the rolls to be abraded. Thus, it is necessary that the distance between the rolls be adjustable in order to compensate for the abrasion thereof. Then, the unhulled rice is supplied into the supply hopper 3. The unhulled rice will be delivered by gravity from between the pay-out roll 6 and adjusting plate 7 onto the rolls 20, 22, where they are subjected to a hulling or husking action. The rice grains then drop on the funnel 35 and are delivered downwards through duct 36 bent in a shape. To the lower part of the discharge opening 36, there is a horizontal flow of air from the intake blower 41. Thus, chaffs are discharged outwards under the suction force of the blower 41, while the unhulled rice and a small quantity of hulled rice grains descend through duct 38 and are delivered therefrom to the rice pearling machine 45 through change-over valve 48 where they are cleaned and discharged therefrom as cleaned rice. The air from blower 43 mounted tothe shaft 42 of said blower 41 is supplied into rice pearling machine 45 through pipe 47 so that any frictional heat generated in cleaned rice is dissipated, while the bran is also carried by the air flow and removed.

When the valve 48 is switched over, the uncleaned rice flows towards changeover discharge opening 49 without entry to the rice pearling meachine 45 and can be delivered from the machine and stored as uncleaned rice. The unripe grains carried a small distance over the duct 38 under the effect of the air flow 'are delivered out of the device through duct 39. They can be used for the preparation of feedstuffs in a known manner.

As described in the foregoing, the present invention has for its primary object to provide a simplified support mechanism for hulling rolls instead of the highly complex conventional one as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. According to this invention, support members for hulling rolls and a supply hopper adapted for supplying unhulled rice to hulling rolls are arranged at the top and the bottom of a single iron plate, respectively, so that there is no necessity that a base plate for supporting husking rolls is projected laterally a considerable distance from the lateral side of the machine, or that the roll chamber and the driving chamber are made separately from cast iron or similar material and mounted on top of the machine. As a result, only the top open part of the casing made from thin iron plate has to be covered with a cast iron or iron plate, thus providing a highly simplified and sturdy'structure and reducing production cost.

In summary, this invention has attained an outstanding improvement in the structure of the roll support mechanism of the rice hulling device. In carrying the present invention into effect, support plate 1 and coupling cylinder 9 can be formed integrally from cast iron material.

According to the present invention, as described above, casing 34 is made from thin iron sheet and only .the top part thereof is formed as a base plate 1, which can be used as a support plate simultaneously. Thus, the hulling rolls 20, 22 can be positioned in the upper part of the casing. Moreover, since the support member 5 for the roll is suspendedly mounted to the base plate 1, there is no necessity of providing a separate support base for the husking rolls, the overall device being thus housed in a rectangular casing. A sorting chamber provided beneath husking rolls so designed that the air is allowed to traverse therethrough horizontally, is of a highly simplified construction. Moreover, chaffs and uncleaned rice are not separated in the sorting chamber but are delivered and cleaned together in the rice cleaning machine 45 provided to the lower part of the rectangular casing, so that the necessity for providing a sorting device for chaffs and uncleaned rice is precluded. In addition, a further blower is mounted on a rotary shaft of a blower for producing air flow in the sorting chamber, enabling the two blowers to be driven in rotation by a single rotary shaft 42. Due to the air from the blower circulated through the rice cleaning machine, rice brans produced in abundance by the cleaning operation of the uncleaned rice and a small quantity of hulled rice can be carried by the air flow and removed, while the heat produced by the rice cleaning operation is also dissipated. Due to the construction such that rotary shafts of these moving parts are projected from one lateral side of the casing 34 and a pulley is mounted to the thus projected end part, the overall device can be driven in rotation simultaneously by mounting a single endless V-belt.

It will be understood that the foregoing description of an embodiment is intended as illustrative and that modifications may be made without departing from the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. In a grain husking device comprising a casing fonning a chamber including side walls and a bottom part, a pair of hulling rolls and a space within said casing and beneath said rolls for passage of grains therethrough, the improvement wherein the device further includes top means for covering said chamber and for supporting said rolls within said chamber wherein said top means comprises a support plate connected to the side walls of said chamber and having an aperture therein for the supply of hulled grains to said chamber, and support means being suspended from said support plate for rotatably supporting said hulling rolls, said support means including a first support member for one of said hulling rolls, said first support member being immovably secured to and suspended from said support plate, and a second support member for the other of said hulling rolls, said second support member having a stationary first portion including a shaft and a second portion pivotably mounted about said shaft, said stationary first portion being immovably secured to and suspended from said support plate,

wherein said one of said hulling rolls is fixed in relation to said support plate and said other of said hulling rolls is pivoted in relation to said support plate, whereby the distance between the rolls may be adjusted so that they do not abut each other but give the grains sufficient force for hulling.

2. A device as claimed in claim I, wherein said space comprises a sorting chamber adapted for passage of air therethrough in a horizontal direction and defined beneath said rolls.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein a duct for uncleaned rice and a duct for unripe grains are opened in said sorting chamber.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said sorting chamber is connected to a suction opening of a first blower having a rotary shaft mounted to the bottom part of said casing, and a second blower, having an air discharge opening is mounted to said rotary shaft of said first blower, said air discharge opening of said second blower being designed so as to be connected to a rice pearling machine having a rotary shaft connected to said duct for uncleaned rice.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein rotary shafts of said rice pearling machine, said first blower and said hulling rolls are projected laterally to said casing, and pulleys are mounted to the projected end parts of said shafts so as to be arranged in the same plane when seen laterally, a V-belt being mounted on said pullys so that the overall device can be set into movement by a single power source.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said casing is in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped and said support plate completely covers said chamber except for said aperture for the supply of unhulled grains thereto.

* r a t 

1. In a grain husking device comprising a casing forming a chamber including side walls and a bottom part, a pair of hulling rolls and a space within said casing and beneath said rolls for passage of grains therethrough, the improvement wherein the device further includes top means for covering said chamber and for supporting said rolls within said chamber wherein said top means comprises a support plate connected to the side walls of said chamber and having an aperture therein for the supply of hulled grains to said chamber, and support means being suspended from said support plate for rotatably supporting said hulling rolls, said support means including a first support member for one of said hulling rolls, said first support member being immovably secured to and suspended from said support plate, and a second support member for the other of said hulling rolls, said second support member having a stationary first portion including a shaft and a second portion pivotably mounted about said shaft, said stationary first portion being immovably secured to and suspended from said support plate, wherein said one of said hulling rolls is fixed in relation to said support plate and said other of said hulling rolls is pivoted in relation to said support plate, whereby the distance between the rolls may be adjusted so that they do not abut each other but give the grains sufficient force for hulling.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, Wherein said space comprises a sorting chamber adapted for passage of air therethrough in a horizontal direction and defined beneath said rolls.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein a duct for uncleaned rice and a duct for unripe grains are opened in said sorting chamber.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said sorting chamber is connected to a suction opening of a first blower having a rotary shaft mounted to the bottom part of said casing, and a second blower, having an air discharge opening is mounted to said rotary shaft of said first blower, said air discharge opening of said second blower being designed so as to be connected to a rice pearling machine having a rotary shaft connected to said duct for uncleaned rice.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein rotary shafts of said rice pearling machine, said first blower and said hulling rolls are projected laterally to said casing, and pulleys are mounted to the projected end parts of said shafts so as to be arranged in the same plane when seen laterally, a V-belt being mounted on said pullys so that the overall device can be set into movement by a single power source.
 6. The device of claim 1 wherein said casing is in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped and said support plate completely covers said chamber except for said aperture for the supply of unhulled grains thereto. 